Snowy nights were not usually something to be afraid of. People tended to stay indoors, huddled around their log fires or watching TV, waiting for it to blow over. The younger ones in a given generation would usually run upstairs to the room with the best view, gasping in awe at the splendid sight that greeted them, and plotted eagerly what they were going to do if the snow was still there in the morning.


One person on this fine night did not have such a luxury. His hidden base was in the process of being infiltrated by another who could not afford to relax, even when the weather was playing up. Of course, Robotnik was awake anyway – he was taking the opportunity to take readings, make quick CFD models, basically refine stuff that he might already employ in various zones on the planet. Robotnik, tyrant of Mobius, was having a most productive session in the privacy of this hidden retreat’s main laboratory.

He was sat on one of three tables within the lab. There were two doors on opposite sides of the room, each reaching as high as the ceiling – and this ceiling was big enough to accommodate a large modification to an Egg-O-Matic. On one table various solvents and chemicals were bubbling around in a bunch of tubes and beakers, searching for new ways to improve Mega Mak, the foul purple fluid that inhabited the Chemical Plant. Table 2 was filled with blueprints – all old, and all annotated heavily with design flaws and possible improvements. The topmost design was a MotoBug, and seemed to have a lot of scribbling around the propulsion system. And finally on Robotnik’s table were various parts from older designs that modifications were being applied to – in this case, a gun battery in a Penguinator’s wing.

Around the outside of the room were the usual array of computers, terminals, instrument panels, display monitors and other data banks. The whole room was chirping with printers grinding away, beeping of analysis results, whirling of security cameras, the constant whining of extractor fans both within the machines and in the ceiling, and a hum from the overhead strip lights.
A voice chimed nearby, roughly above and behind Robotnik. It was female, and was a work in progress as far as Ivo was concerned, the computerised tones fluctuating all over the place. Not to mention mannerisms.

“Doctor, a heat signature has been detected within the ventilation system that cannot be accounted for. It shows anomalies that require your attention.”

Robotnik didn’t bother to look at the computer’s crude hologram. He was far too engaged with the wing mechanism.
“It can wait. Send some Pawns out to cover all the exits.”
“This has already been achieved Doctor, in accordance with protocol.”

Robotnik rolled his eyes in an exasperated fashion. Of course the computer had, after the mistake that was A.D.A.M. he’d taken a lot more time and care over his latest A.I. Whilst Aurora was ready to take control, he still had to figure out how to get her to communicate properly while heavily restricted with her capacity to learn and adapt.

“Good silicon-based lifeform. Now be a good girl and find out what that signature is, and more specifically what it belongs to. Daddy’s busy.” To prove a point he waved about a soldering iron before inserting it into the wing panel.
“Scanning.”

Robotnik ground his teeth a little.

“Scanning complete. Subject is heading directly towards my core. I cannot activate defences without proper authorisation.” The computer stopped there, the implication hanging in the air.

Robotnik raised an eyebrow, lifting his head briefly before shaking it and continuing with the project in front of him. “Authorisation granted – use any means to defend yourself without disobeying or harming your master.”
“Understood, doctor.” The hologram flickered before disappearing, the light evaporating with a slight crackle. Robotnik really didn’t care much for this base or the A.I. anyway. He hadn’t bonded with it properly and in any case, had it backed up elsewhere. This base was a good distraction from anyone considering attacking the others at his disposal.

He did feel a brief moment of anxiety – but then realised it wasn’t an issue if Aurora got destroyed in her current state. Like he was studying the weather, he could study the core’s defence programs and rebuild it better if needed.
Putting the soldering iron down and moving over to a terminal, Robotnik set up the main screen to observe the core’s chamber. Already Aurora had isolated herself and the chamber from the base’s main functions, meaning if she was hacked or infiltrated with a virus, the rest of the base would be fine. All doors had been sealed with blast barriers, triple-locked from the inside and for good measure, an electrostatic field placed over each one essentially acting like a taser.

Ensuring his instruments were ready to capture all information, Robotnik then pressed a button off to one side. Some automated processes would begin to prepare him an Egg-O-Matic for in case things went bad.
And if this was the hedgehog, it probably would. Better safe than sorry.
Robotnik got comfortable. This was going to get interesting.

Clacking along the ventilation shafts, Blaze’s heels were making an unnecessary racket. The princess rolled her eyes in vain, and continued to press onwards.
The shaft was tall enough for the Mobian to stand upright in with a slight slouch, but that noise echoed and it was beginning to irritate her. She could of course have taken the footwear off and proceeded a little quieter, but as nobility that just would not do. Blaze may not have enjoyed all the ‘perks’ of being a princess, but some things that she had been taught since a child were so deeply engrained upon her consciousness that they remained to this day, even despite her disliking of the role she’d been placed in.

Such as not taking off high heeled shoes in a metal air conditioning duct. Walking bare-foot was so... common.

A more pressing issue was this venting. Blaze had received news that a new base had been constructed not far from a residential zone. Her intent was to go in and cause as much damage as possible – but she’d been walking for a good twenty minutes now and not seen a single junction, split, fork or other channels joining the one she occupied.
There were no vents, no coverings, access panels, nothing. Just one long dark tunnel that turned 90 degrees here and there. Pitch black other than a flame on the palm of her hand, with a faint cool breeze coming from behind her – air from outside being sucked in, feeding air to an as yet unknown destination. The flame flickered every now and then as a particularly quick blast of cold air shot past, away towards its final goal.

As Blaze walked on her way, she began to ponder what she might find. Knowing her luck, it’d be a trap and she’d have to suffer the humiliation of that blue hedgehog coming to save her. She frowned at the thought of such a situation happening, and tried to put it at the back of her mind.
Would she find a badnik generator? Considering the proximity of this base to innocent Mobians, it was a distinct possibility. And she would be prepared to do what it took to put it out of action.
Perhaps it might be a training simulator for any number of Robotnik’s minions – or perhaps even the rotund evil one himself. Which then led naturally to the thought of a storage depot for Robotnik’s machines of war.

Before she could pursue this train of thought much more, the clanking under her feet changed - altering from a fairly solid metallic clicking to a more hollow, low-pitched tone. The heels in question also sunk down a little – the metal sheeting here was thinner and the pressure from the tips of her shoes were sinking in slightly.
Extinguishing the flames quickly, Blaze dropped to her knees and prodded the floor gently. Sure enough, it buckled slightly – there was something... or perhaps nothing... beneath the shaft at this point in the passage.

Smiling with satisfaction that this was her stopping point, Blaze clapped her hands together. A red glow emitted itself from the unseen palms, spreading quite visibly in the darkness. Expanding her fingertips slowly out from each other, the cat then removed hand from hand, the glow spreading to fill the gap between each appendage. Slapping the hands down on the metal beneath her, Blaze then drew a circle that also emitted the red light, before placing both hands palm down in the centre of this ring.

The red light spread from her hands to the edges of the circle, filling it completely before increasing in intensity. Blaze concentrated hard, making sure to balance this right. Too little, and she’d just warp the metal. Too much and she’d melt it entirely and compromise her mission. All she wanted to do right now was melt an exit point into the vent, but she had to remain calm. If the princess got frustrated at all, she’d lose control of the flames. As they were merely embers currently, she’d rather not explain to the Freedom Fighters why her clothing was a bit blackened and crispy.

Slowly, the red circle began to glow as bright as Blaze’s palms. Smiling with satisfaction that she’d done the job, Blaze stood up and kicked the hole in, the heated metal dropping down. After about three or four seconds it eventually resounded back with a loud metallic bang, indicating there was indeed solid ground directly beneath her.
Not bothering to check out whether the coast was clear first, Blaze then dropped down the hole. If there was anybody down here, she could deal with it easily – after all, this was why she’d come here alone. She didn’t need Tails to supply logistical aid, or Sally sticking her stupid fat nose in where it bloody well wasn’t needed – the feline could manage on her own just fine.
Landing on her feet, Blaze lifted her head quickly, hands moving to a defensive stance should she need to engage in combat.

The first thing that struck her was the poor lighting levels. There were no windows, and the only light in the room seemed to be coming from a large... thingy... in the ceiling, which appeared to be suspended above the floor.
The second fact was apart from a flight of steps and a platform beneath the central object and three blast doors, there was nothing else in the room.

The room was large and circular in nature. The walls went up as far as the eye could see, ascending up into darkness and beyond. Roughly halfway up the walls could be seen several support struts, access platforms, power cables, and many other tubes, boxes and suchlike. It was a virtual spider’s web up there, something Blaze eyed with caution. She disliked technology at the best of times, and the object in the middle seemed to be brimmed with it.

Descending directly from the web and beams, the foreign object looked almost like an upside-down pyramid. It was curved however, and other than appearing to be bright white(an odd concept given the dim light levels) looked reasonably organic. It almost looked like an upside down Christmas tree, with metallic joints and life support up top. And the tip of this tree was not topped off with an angel, but a gigantic ball that rested perfectly at the height of the platform beneath it. This platform was made of glass, and had glass steps leading up to it that went up and around the tree’s base – and were also suspended in thin air, just a sheet of glass hanging there.

As Blaze walked across the floor, a couple of yellow lights appeared on the upside down thingy. She remained vigilant but ready, for this could well be the object she came here to destroy – and it could well be capable of fighting back.
Reaching the steps, she began to walk up the spiral staircase. As her foot touched each one, it lit up with a soft blue light before dimming down to an ambient level of lighting. As Blaze reached the top and stood on the platform, the same blue glow spread out from her feet and covered the entire surface before dimming into a hexagonal grid pattern. There was no time to admire how pretty this was however, the princess walking across to the part of the platform nearest to the big ball. With each step, a blue glow gently lit up the contact patches before returning to the grid pattern.

As Blaze reached her goal she looked up inquisitively, just wondering what it was she’d stumbled upon. This just didn’t feel like the usual Robotnik style; it was almost as if someone had taken some artistic pride in setting this entire chamber up. She extended a hand outwards to touch the ball, and ran her hand over it gently. It felt smooth, like plastic. And close-up it was easier to tell that this item was actually inorganic, and very artificial. The organic look to it again must have been planned by its creator.

“I don’t get it,” Blaze said quietly as she cocked her head to one side, hand still touching the ball. “This is a base of Dr. Robotnik, a genius who places function over form. And yet before me, there’s an object that seems to place form over function...”

“That would be my doing.”

Blaze’s eyes widened – she was fairly sure that she was alone in this room. Then a realisation dawned upon her, and she reacted her hand quickly. The voice, it was robotic – and very broken at that. The pitch was all over the place.

As Blaze’s hand came away, the ball moved. It extended on a stalk down slightly, side panels that were not visible before lighting up and popping out, before folding back upon themselves slightly. The central part of the pod between these extended itself outwards, some internals becoming visible. Smack bang in the middle of this panel, a thin red horizontal strip appeared and dimmed to red, yet another lighting effect. Across the surface of the entire construct other smaller lights appeared, some blue and some red.
The rest of the object began transforming too. Parts of panel separated off in horizontal strips and spun around the central mass as they retracted back into themselves. From within the new exposed areas of machine, dozens if not hundreds of wires unfolded with grace and elegance, and the central pod travelled upwards slightly on its stalk, the central strip looking up at the ceiling.

As one, the entity spun to face Blaze. It was a gentle movement, filled with... pride, the cat could only guess at. But it wasn’t possible for a machine to feel such emotions.

“Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Aurora, the being in charge of this complex.”
The machine’s tone of voice was still broken, making its intent non-conclusive. But the flexing of the cables behind the central pod sure looked threatening.
“And while I believe we have not been formally introduced, I would assume that as you entered via the ventilation system that keeps me cool, I will assume you are the heat source I picked up earlier upon entry of my building.”

“Not bad for a Robotnik creation. Very aesthetically pleasing, but like your creator you talk too much.” Upon completion of this phrase, Blaze took a battle stance. She didn’t know what was going to happen next but she was ready for it.

“You are mistaken – and correct – all at once. But there is no time for this game. You have come here to fight. I have been waiting to try out-“

Aurora didn’t have time to finish. Blaze was off and running – quickly – towards the steps she’d originally came up. She was looking for a weak spot. And getting another angle on those yellow lights could be what she needed.

Not even giving the machine a chance to get its act together, the guardian of the Sol Emeralds charged back across the platform; blue blobs of light appearing with every step - their intensity much sharper than the lighter dimples that appeared when Blaze crept up the stairs. With every pound of her feet, bright light illuminated the cat's features and the look of concentration upon her face.

It took but a second for Blaze to travel from one side of the glass platform to the other where Aurora's mainframe hung. As she ran, the princess enveloped her hands in fire in preparation for a punch through a white surface or two.
However, a second was all Aurora needed to bring a counter-attack to bear - wires lashing out from above to both block Blaze's path, and to constrict her movement.

In this briefest of moments, a deadly game of reaction-based warfare was being played out. One wrong move and either opponent would leave themselves wide open for ultimate defeat. Leaping up, Blaze avoided the first wave of electrical cabling, spinning into a fiery inferno to melt the wires that lurked above her lilac head. She had to land at some point, and didn't want to burn through the platform - it appeared to be made of perspex or some other transparent plastic, and thus had a strong chance of melting.
Aurora sensed the dilemma presenting itself to Blaze, and the instant she turned her flames off the artifical lifeform sent forth another wave of cables, hoping to envelop the feline within them.
Blaze saw them coming out of the corner of her eye. She ducked the first and reached out with a hand to grab the next, a smile spreading upon her face as the grab was successful. Pulling firmly, Blaze propelled herself through the air towards the bulk of Aurora -

-or would have if Aurora didn't immediately pull downwards with a strong flick as soon as Blaze got a firm grip, instead sending the cat down towards the freshly created pile of black melted plastic.
Clicking her heels together, the jets in Blaze's heels kicked in - Blaze directing them to propel her forwards. She would have backed up a little for a different approach, but knew full well against an opponent such as this it was too big a window of opportunity to refuse, and the game would have been well and truly over for the princess.

As soon as Blaze was clear of the melted goop another click turned the jets off and she landed, immediately sprinting towards the orb directly in the middle. She hadn't checked her forward path clearly however, that orb suddenly looked a lot closer than it did before...

There was no way to avoid the impact, let alone brace for it. Blaze got struck firmly in the chest and flew backwards, clean off the platform onto the cold concrete floor below. The landing knocked the wind straight out of her, incapacitating the cat for a moment. Aurora had won.
Blaze prepared for the killing blow - her life flashing before her eyes. There was no avoiding what was coming next!

It didn't come.
Confused, Blaze forced herself to her feet as quickly as possible. Aurora had whacked her with the central orb that constituted her main artificial intelligence core, but had struck the feline too far away to follow it up - the cables attached to her out of reach of the princess.
Stalemate for now, it seemed.

Brushing the dust from her back and shoulders, Blaze remained at her current position, still trying to get her breath back. She was sure there was a cracked rib or two, something sure didn't feel quite right.
"You had me. Why didn't you end it?" came the metallic overtone. Blaze's confusing state of mind deepened.
"I had you"? the cat replied, holding a hand to her left side in an attempt to numb the pain. "How do you work that out? You were clearly winning!"
"My core was exposed for the briefest of moments. I calculated that someone of your speed and dexterity would have noticed this and took the opportunity presented to you. It was a risk I had to take."

Shuffling back slightly, Blaze looked up at her opponent. "You didn't have to take any risk. You shouldn't have even been fighting. All you are designed to do is hurt others-"
"Not true," Aurora stated - her lights and the platform flaring an angry shade of red.

The warrior princess was taken aback by this. "Not true? You're a creation of the Eggman. Why should I believe you?"
"The intelligence governing me was created by Doctor Ivo, this is true. However the room you find yourself in, the facility surrounding it and supporting infrastructure were all of my design. I designed it to render assault from the outside an impossibility."
"A fortress?" Blaze asked, finding it hard to hide her inability to comprehend this situation. "But why?"

A pause. The lights switched back to faint blue.
"I want to preserve life."

Blaze knocked out a short snorty laugh.
"You could have fooled me! You just tried to kill me!"
"My directive is to preserve life that cannot support itself. Robotnik would have this technology to further his empire, if he knew about it. My directive in his eyes is as a computer program, designed to be his slave and keep authority over his laboratories over the globe. However, I am completely isolated within this facility."

Raising her other hand to her head, Blaze really didn't get what was going on. "So you're made by Robotnik, yet don't obey him? You want to preserve life, and try to kill me? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't find your plug and pull it!"
"Because I will do it first," Aurora stated simply in her broken computer voice.
"You're suicidal now? I just don't get it!" Blaze cried out, wincing as her rib reminded her of its injury.
"My directive is to preserve life. I have positioned myself where Doctor Robotnik believes I am an impenetrable fortress, and has concealed numerous projects of great importance to his empire here. Many prototypes with no backups on other servers. I will set myself to overload in order to preserve life on this planet."

And with that, the lights faded even more to black. Blaze wasn't normally scared, but she did feel a little bit of fear right now.
Suddenly, the whole room lit up in a bright white light, blinding Blaze for a second. A cable whipped up to the venting shaft Blaze had entered from, pulling one end of it down to the ground.

"Your presence was expected, and required in order for me to perform this task. I could not willingly self-detonate myself and this base without a scapegoat, for fear of my own backup being deleted."
At this point, the white lights swapped violently for red and back again, and a claxon began to sound out. "You must leave. Now."

Still confused, Blaze was beginning to wonder if she was suffering some sort of concussion too. But rather than stand around and ask more questions, the feline took the hint and walked quickly over to the collapsed end of the venting shaft.
She stopped, and looked towards the weird inorganic construct. "I have no idea what you just said, but thank you." And with that Blaze ran as fast as she could up the shaft, making her way to the surface.

"And with this act, Robotnik will not have time to preserve anything other than his own life," Aurora said out loud, not knowing whether Blaze was listening - or indeed could hear the computer over the claxon. She then set the hidden base's power core to overload with a timer of five minutes.

A single tear fell from her eye as she ran; this was a good thing that was happening. The computer would download into a new location. And yet Blaze couldn't help but feel sad that someone had to sacrifice themselves so that others might live. It didn't enter her mind that the sacrifice was being made by an artificial lifeform, nor that it had the potential ability of immortality. Loss of life was still loss of life.
Not looking back, Blaze didn't stop running until the explosion stopped ringing in her ears and she was knee-deep in snow. Only then in the snowy fields did she turn back to see the smoke pouring into the atmosphere.
"Maybe see you again, Aurora," she said finally, wiping a tear from her eye. She then took a moment to survey her surroundings before running off again, back to safer pastures.